Sunday, October 25, 2015

A Baker’s Dozen of Neglected Russian Stories – No. 7

Paul
Goble

Staunton, October 25 -- The flood of news
stories from a country as large, diverse and often strange as the Russian
Federation often appears to be is far too large for anyone to keep up with. But
there needs to be a way to mark those which can’t be discussed in detail but
which are too indicative of broader developments to ignore.

Consequently, Windows on Eurasia will present a selection of 13 of these other
and typically neglected stories at the end of each week or as in this case at
the beginning of the next. This is the seventh such weekly compilation. It is
only suggestive and far from complete, but perhaps one or more of these stories
will prove of broader interest.

1.Everything Putin
Needs to Know, He Learned in Leningrad’s Mean Streets.Vladimir Putin says that when he was growing
up, he learned in the streets of his native city, Leningrad, that “if a fight
is inevitable, strike first.” Avoiding a fight altogether is something many
others learn when they grow up, but not the Kremlin leader (echo.msk.ru/blog/day_video/1645224-echo/).

2.Another BRICS Out
of the Wall.Putin didn’t get the support he expected from
CIS countries on Syria and Ukraine; now, he isn’t getting it within the
much-ballyhooed BRICS grouping of countries either: Brazil has denounced Russia
for its actions in Syria (regnum.ru/news/polit/1996289.html).

3.Russia Anything
But Welcoming to Refugees. Even as Russian officials give improving lectures to
Europe about refugees, their own country has extended permanent refugee status
to only 816 people (fergananews.com/articles/8741). Emblematic of Moscow’s real as opposed declared
approach is the case of a Syrian family which has been living in Sheremetyevo
Airport for a month (novayagazeta.ru/society/70384.html).

5.Russia’s Special
Services to Promote ‘Positive Values.’ Russia’s special services are being
tasked to promote “positive values” among Russians perhaps using their
soon-to-be-acquired right to use the torture of prisoners as one of their
methods (rbc.ru/politics/22/10/2015/56276c8d9a79478028ed21a9)/

6.Do the Crime, Do
the Time – in the Russian Army. Russian judges may soon have the option
to send those convicted of crimes to serve their “sentences” as soldiers in the
Russian military, a reflection of both the high cost of prisons and the shortages
of young men in the draft pool (grani.ru/Society/Law/m.245158.html).

7.Another Step Back
toward Soviet Times – FSB to Review Scholarly Papers Before Publication.In Soviet time, a special department in
Russia’s higher educational institutions, one staffed by KGB officers, reviewed
all academic papers prior to publication lest there be a leak of state secrets.
Now, restoring that tradition, officers from the FSB will do the same (echo.msk.ru/news/1644162-echo.html).

9.Dacha Chief Symbol
of Private Property for Russians. A new study has concluded that for
Russians, the dacha is the chief symbol of private property and continues to
play a defining role in how Russians view the new phenomenon of private
ownership (opec.ru/1883382.html).

10.Graduates from
Regions Won’t Go Home Again.Students who
leave their home regions for university study elsewhere are unlikely to return,
a pattern that puts many regions in an ever more difficult position as far as
development is concerned (newizv.ru/society/2015-10-20/229217-nevozvrashency.html).

11.Punishing Russians Who Vote Incorrectly. Those Russians
who live in districts which cast a disproportionate share of their ballots for opposition
figures are likely to suffer as a result, possibly seeing their parks and clubs
closed by the victors (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5620B7A216C12).

12.Special Caskets
for Special Russians.
Not content with living better in this life than their poorer compatriots,
Russia’s super rich and those who aspire to be part of it are now ordering
special caskets and cemetery monuments so that their wealth will in that sense
at least live after them (echo.msk.ru/blog/varlamov_i/1642870-echo/).

13.In Nizhny Tagil,
Putinstrasse Leads Past a Cemetery.In the Sverdlovsk oblast city of Nizhny Tagil, a new street has appeared
– Putinstrasse – which leads from the railroad station past the local cemetery
(echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/1645046-echo/).